Question Micro-stuttering when gaming ?

[Pc enjoyer]

Hello, This is my first post here and noticed people tend to give pretty solid advice.

For a few months now i've had micro stutter in games it wasnt noticeable at first.
since i mostly play FFXIV.

but it's super noticeable on Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous
and GTAV
I tried witcher 3 and Cyberpunk and whilst they dont stutter i notice incredible slowdown
I don;t notice much of anything when playing FFXIV. at this point i feel like this is a system to play final fantasy xiv lol.

my specs are
2x 16 Corsair veangence 5600 MHZ
Asus Crosshair x670E hero Motherboard
Asrock 6900 XT OC Phantom Gaming
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
ROG Thor 1200w Platinum PSU
and a Rog Ryujin 2 for a cpu cooler.

for some information i used the 6900xt in a previous build but it started to sag really bad due to lack of support. the case did come with supports but unfortunately ended up not working which was certainly user error.

Whilst things are playable it's really annoying and hard to deal with especially since i built most of this rig through finance due to my previous rig packing up at the worst possible time when i didn't have alot of playable funds.

also the ram no longer works at 5600 mhz. i have to run it at 4800mhz last time i tried 5600. my system just sort of froze.

i alsol had games crash all the time and a restart would fix the crashes but not the micro stutters. untill i shut down and process started again (Reinstalling windows fixed this)

I've tried
Fresh install of windows
Using Defaults in bios.
Trying to run things with IGPU (This isn't a particularly good method as i feel most games won't run well. i tried pathfinder and still noticed some minor stuttering issues. but wasn't comfy testing further so i stopped)
I've yet to touch any of the hardware as im abit of a clutz when it comes to handling things.
I've also updated BIOS to the latest.

Temps are fine i monitor them alot since in my last system the cooler semi stopped working and i kinda fried my cpu.

so any advice would be appreciated and will be willing to share more info if neccesary.

I'm willing to replace things if neccesary but there's always that lingering anxiety of. "what if it doesn't work."

Luckily everythings under warranty except the PSU and GPU.

Please and thank you

 

[Aeacus]

also the ram no longer works at 5600 mhz. i have to run it at 4800mhz last time i tried 5600. my system just sort of froze.

Did the stutters came before or after you had to reduce RAM frequency? Since RAM issues usually are behind stutters. Either that, or poor GPU drivers (especially when using Radeon GPU).

So, my 1st option would be getting new RAM, that actually does hold the XMP.
Though, it is possible that your MoBo is on it's way out (which would explain RAM not being able to hold the XMP), but new MoBo costs far more than new RAM. And without 2nd, compatible system, to test which of the two would be the issue, i'd go with new RAM 1st.

 

[Pc enjoyer]

Did the stutters came before or after you had to reduce RAM frequency? Since RAM issues usually are behind stutters. Either that, or poor GPU drivers (especially when using Radeon GPU).

So, my 1st option would be getting new RAM, that actually does hold the XMP.
Though, it is possible that your MoBo is on it's way out (which would explain RAM not being able to hold the XMP), but new MoBo costs far more than new RAM. And without 2nd, compatible system, to test which of the two would be the issue, i'd go with new RAM 1st.

They came before. I was getting kernel32.dll errors from windows alot ect it was wild which is why i reinstalled windows. Along with the stutters.

Motherboard is about 3 months old so i cant see it dieing. Unless it's faulty in which case its not too late to return it and get it replaced.

Yea new ram and gpu are on the list.


According to list of improved Vendors my current RAM isnt on the list but the new sticks i want are.

The thing is i wasnt using XMP/EXPO. per se. Just manually setting the mhz so idk if that is also an issue since i wasnt really changing any voltage timings ect.

Thanks very much for the reply.

 

[Aeacus]

The thing is i wasnt using XMP/EXPO. per se. Just manually setting the mhz so idk if that is also an issue since i wasnt really changing any voltage timings ect.

Manual OC usually requires loosening the timings as well, for RAM OC to be stable. And/or increase the voltage.

Other possible fixes include using version or two older GPU drivers. Sometimes, latest GPU drivers can be troublesome.

If absolutely nothing changed software wise and all of a sudden, there are stutters, issue is with hardware.
But if software changed, e.g as little as Win update, then issue is with software.

You've done Win reinstall, but was it repair or clean one? E.g format OS drive and install clean, fresh Win again?
Also, when new Win is installed, Win usually wants to update itself to the latest one. It is possible that one of such updates messed something up. Win updates are notorious in this regard.

For other software options, running in Safe Mode usually helps. Though, i'm not sure you can game on Safe Mode, since GPU drivers won't be launched. Instead, Win own display drivers are used. Still, it's worth a try. If there are no stutters in Safe Mode, the issue is with 3rd party software, that normally launches when booting into Win, but are disabled when in Safe Mode. But if even in Safe Mode the stutters are present, issue is with Win kernel or hardware.

 

[Pc enjoyer]

Manual OC usually requires loosening the timings as well, for RAM OC to be stable. And/or increase the voltage.

Other possible fixes include using version or two older GPU drivers. Sometimes, latest GPU drivers can be troublesome.

If absolutely nothing changed software wise and all of a sudden, there are stutters, issue is with hardware.
But if software changed, e.g as little as Win update, then issue is with software.

You've done Win reinstall, but was it repair or clean one? E.g format OS drive and install clean, fresh Win again?
Also, when new Win is installed, Win usually wants to update itself to the latest one. It is possible that one of such updates messed something up. Win updates are notorious in this regard.

For other software options, running in Safe Mode usually helps. Though, i'm not sure you can game on Safe Mode, since GPU drivers won't be launched. Instead, Win own display drivers are used. Still, it's worth a try. If there are no stutters in Safe Mode, the issue is with 3rd party software, that normally launches when booting into Win, but are disabled when in Safe Mode. But if even in Safe Mode the stutters are present, issue is with Win kernel or hardware.

Ah so the ram is an error on my end. Makes sense lol.

It was a completely fresh reinstall deleted all partitions on the drive the installed windows onto it.

The thing is I don't notice any stutters during windows stuff. i'll try watching videos and see.


Ah yea im on the newest drivers. i'll try installing 3 drivers or so before when i have pc access.


It was suggested to me to try turning off freesync ddu'ing drivers and reinstalling and keeping freesync off so ill go for previous gpu drivers too at the same time see if any of it helps.

Sorry if my information isn't as good as it can be i don't entirely know when these exactly started so my apologies on that.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Aeacus]

keeping freesync off

Freesync is to mitigate screen tearing and stuttering, by syncing up the FPS between game and monitor.
You could try with Adaptive Sync. I've found it to be best. Vsync is worst. And G-sync requires Nvidia GPU + monitor that supports G-Sync.

i don't entirely know when these exactly started

This is actually the most vital part, since it would give us ideas what might have happened. But not recalling it is quite normal. We then have to go the long way around, trying different fixes until something eventually sticks.

The thing is I don't notice any stutters during windows stuff. i'll try watching videos and see.

Stutters are usually within games and those can be minor. Though, individual taste is the one that defines if the stutters are something you can live with it, or not.
If the stutters would be within Win itself, then the problem would be far more severe. Both on software and hardware standpoint.

In 80% of cases, i've seen that either adding more RAM and/or increasing RAM frequency removes the stutters in the games. Hence why i suggested getting new RAM as 1st option.

GPU drivers is another option. While going with Nvidia GPU would be better, because i've seen more issues with Radeon GPUs than Nvidia GPUs. Radeon GPU drivers, in the most part, are worse than Nvidia drivers and i've seen countless of cases of high-end Radeon GPU, easily pushing 200+ FPS, but due to the GPU architecture and/or GPU drivers, also produces stutters.

FPS cap is another option, that may or may not help. E.g if you have 144 Hz monitor, cap the in-game FPS to 120, whereby no matter what happens, FPS won't go past 120. This won't let GPU to run at full bore at all times and can be enough to get rid of stutters.

 

[pete_101]

My advice on RAM for Ryzen 7000 series builds, don't buy anything that's XMP, you want AMD EXPO.

I couldn't run XMP faster than 4800 on my build without the system crashing. Now it's running fine at 6000 with EXPO RAM.

 

[Pc enjoyer]

Freesync is to mitigate screen tearing and stuttering, by syncing up the FPS between game and monitor.
You could try with Adaptive Sync. I've found it to be best. Vsync is worst. And G-sync requires Nvidia GPU + monitor that supports G-Sync.


This is actually the most vital part, since it would give us ideas what might have happened. But not recalling it is quite normal. We then have to go the long way around, trying different fixes until something eventually sticks.


Stutters are usually within games and those can be minor. Though, individual taste is the one that defines if the stutters are something you can live with it, or not.
If the stutters would be within Win itself, then the problem would be far more severe. Both on software and hardware standpoint.

In 80% of cases, i've seen that either adding more RAM and/or increasing RAM frequency removes the stutters in the games. Hence why i suggested getting new RAM as 1st option.

GPU drivers is another option. While going with Nvidia GPU would be better, because i've seen more issues with Radeon GPUs than Nvidia GPUs. Radeon GPU drivers, in the most part, are worse than Nvidia drivers and i've seen countless of cases of high-end Radeon GPU, easily pushing 200+ FPS, but due to the GPU architecture and/or GPU drivers, also produces stutters.

FPS cap is another option, that may or may not help. E.g if you have 144 Hz monitor, cap the in-game FPS to 120, whereby no matter what happens, FPS won't go past 120. This won't let GPU to run at full bore at all times and can be enough to get rid of stutters.

Some news on this. When i got home I disabled all of amd's in built settings ect and turned off freesync ect. On the surface atleast it seems like some games have stabilized. I need to do further testing. I dont think the issue is gone or anything but i think ive atleast made its overall impact less.

Thanks very much for the advice however and will keep it in mind once i get some time during the weekend to do some light tinkering

I watched a video for abit when i got home and it wasnt stuttering on the pc itself.

So i guess at this point its just sort of wait and see how things go and go from there.

As for GPU i do think ill swap to team green. Back to back issues with all my parts has left a sour taste in my mouth overall.

Might even give intel a shot. i'll see. If pc is working and somewhat stable cant really justify buying new parts just yet. Will have to save up ect.


Thanks for your help!

 

[Pc enjoyer]

My advice on RAM for Ryzen 7000 series builds, don't buy anything that's XMP, you want AMD EXPO.

I couldn't run XMP faster than 4800 on my build without the system crashing. Now it's running fine at 6000 with EXPO RAM.

Yea its certainly a thing. Im keeping this in mind for my next build ect. Not that i mind overall i dont mind how things run as long as its running properly lol